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Group to brainstorm bringing new life to old mills

When cotton was king, most decent-sized Southern towns had a mill where the local crop was either prepared for shipping or turned into woven fabric.

Today, these mills are vacant — leaving the residents of many Southern towns trying to find something to do with the massive historical artifacts.

That may be why preservationists and developers from across Georgia and Alabama have signed up for the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation’s Feb. 4 Southern Mills symposium, said Lisa Dore, the foundation’s education chairwoman.

“It’s interesting to find out what people’s interests are (in our mill) when they sign up,” Dore said. “Some people own mills, and they want to figure out what to with their own mills. Other people are developers, or they’re architects or other people interested in real estate.”

The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation originally planned the symposium as a brainstorming workshop for locals interested in finding a new use for the abandoned, 188,000-square-foot Southern Manufacturing Company complex on Oneta Street.

Organizers invited historic preservation experts from up and down the East Coast to discuss funding possibilities and come up with uses for the old mill.

With more than 70 people signed up for the event, foundation members are learning that a lot of communities have similar buildings in need of redevelopment.

“There are a ton of mill properties around the Southeast, so I think it’s a pertinent topic,” Dore said. “And it’s applicable not only to mills but to any historic structure that’s being under-utilized. You can apply the same economic principles that they’re going to learn at the symposium and use those to make positive changes in their communities.”

Foundation members expect that the number of people signed up for the workshop will grow between now and the registration deadline of Feb. 1.

The more people who attend the symposium, the greater the likelihood that someone will come up with an idea to redevelop the old Oneta Street mill complex, she said.

The 18-acre complex has been vacant for years and hasn’t operated as a mill for several decades.

An Atlanta firm, Aderhold Properties Inc., bought the mill in the late 1990s to turn the property into the Southern Mill Lofts.

That project fell through before it could get off the ground, but Aderhold Properties did take the step of securing a historic preservation facade easement on the property — meaning the company agreed not to tear it down in exchange for some tax advantages.

Since then, Aderhold has been trying to sell the property. The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, which holds the preservation easement, has been hoping someone would renovate the mill.

Anyone interested in attending the daylong workshop can visit www.achfonline.org for more information about speakers, scheduling and registering for the event.